Holy Grails of Disney Planning

When you visit Disney several times or you find yourself as an Authorized Disney Vacation planner at some point in your life, you know that there are several things that only the luckiest can obtain. For some, it’s a price issue and without a certain dollar amount, you’ll never be able to afford it. For some, it’s physical liability that prevents you the full experience of an attraction. For others, its simply a timing issue as you have to be one of the first or you’ll miss the chance. And that’s what has brought us today’s list:

Welcome to Believe Vacations Weekly Post where today, we’ll list some of the Holy Grails of Disney. For this list, our agents shared what they thought were reservations, experiences, or opportunities that are pretty rare. What we hope you see is that we want to provide the most magical experiences possible but for some, it will take a combination of skill, timing and luck so if you ever request these from your agent and we are unable to fulfill the request, you’re not the only one. But let’s get positive and get dreaming as we start with:

Attractions

Each one of our agents has had the plenty of waking up early one morning and logging onto My Disney Experience to book Fast Passes for clients. Some of us would say that it truly is a fun moment, Christmas-like if you will, because all the planning and wishing and dreaming leading up to that point will all be over within a span of 20 minutes. And while there are some attractions that we feel tremendously confident we will get these days, some of the newer “big boys on the block” will take a little skill and luck. Two of those hard-to-get Fast Passes includes Slinky Dog Roller Coaster and Flight of Passage. Don’t fret if your agent can’t get them right away as there will be other opportunities and plans for stand-by in a worst-case scenario.

Dining

You know everything I just said about 60 days prior with Fast Passes? Back that up to 180 days before arrival and trying to book dining reservations. In honesty, dining reservations may be the more stressful because you will have to build your park days around where you will be dining. If you’re lucky to know you are going before the 180 days, you’ll have a shot at some of the most coveted establishments but anywhere close to your arrival date and there may not even be a reason to look. So count back 180 days from when you are going and make sure that morning we look at the following: Cinderella’s Royal Table, Be Our Guest dinner, and any other breakfast reservations before a park actually opens. And while our posts are mostly about Disney World, let’s give some love to the Disney Cruise line and their incredible restaurants, Palo and Remy.

Characters

Disney has gotten wise over the years and have had their characters located in specific areas of the park. This allows for queues to form and crowds to conveniently gather off the walkways. Some of the character meet-and-greets are indoor attractions and may even have Fast Pass opportunities. But anyone can see and experience those. No, for our list, we have a few that are very rare and that includes riding the teacups…with Alice(!!), getting a picture with all 7 dwarfs at the same time and catching a photo with Sweetums passing backstage from Muppet*Vision 3D.

Events

Most events at Disney are seasonal and they are included in your vacation (International Food and Wine, Flower and Garden, etc.). Others, you need a special ticket to get in to the party (Halloween and Christmas after hour events). But our holy grail submissions have to deal with timing and circumstances during these events. For example, imagine seeing Neil Patrick Harris narrate the Candlelight Processional at Epcot. It’d be amazing! Or how about participating in a RunDisney event and getting a rare photo alone in front of the castle! Now we’re talking bucket list!

Etc.

The best part about these lists is that you never know what your colleagues will say when you open it up. We all have our different perspectives and experiences and challenges to obtain the unobtainable. So we conclude this weekend’s list with a hodgepodge of random items we have to put in this miscellaneous category. They include getting a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointment within the Magic Kingdom; renting a cabana on Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay; being the grand marshall of a parade; visiting Club 33; taking a tour to visit Walt’s apartment in Disneyland; and of course, the ultimate of Disney Holy Grail’s, staying in Cinderella’s Castle!

Did we miss anything? What would you consider to be the Holy Grails of Disney? Thanks for reading and remember there’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!

Brian Pavlick is a husband and father residing in Maylene, AL. His love of Disney goes back to his early memories of watching the New Disney Channel on cable, occasional vacations to Orlando Florida and attending Disney Institute Management Training classes. He keeps up with Disney news and updates by reading numerous websites, experiencing attractions by watching YouTube videos and introducing his family to classic and timeless Disney movies, attractions and songs.